_Nuclei Myristicæ_, _Semen Myristicæ_, _Nux moschata_; _Nutmeg_; F.
_Muscade_, _Noix de Muscade_; G. _Muskatnuss_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Myristica fragrans_ Houttuyn (_M. moschata_ Thunb.,
_M. officinalis_ Linn. f.), a handsome, bushy, evergreen tree,[1849]
with dark shining leaves, growing in its native islands to a height of
40 to 50 feet. It is found wild in the very small volcanic group of
Banda, from Damma to Amboina, in Ceram, Bouro, Jilolo (Halmahera), the
western peninsula of New Guinea, and in many of the adjacent islands,
but it is not indigenous to any of the islands westward of these, or to
the Philippines (Crawfurd).
The nutmeg tree has been introduced into Bencoolen on the west coast of
Sumatra, Malacca, Bengal, the islands of Singapore and Penang, as well
as Brazil and the West Indies; but it is only in a very few localities
that the cultivation has been attended with success.
In its native countries the tree comes into bearing in its ninth
year, and is said to continue fruitful until 60 or even 80 years old,
yielding annually as many as 2000 fruits. It is diœcious, and one male
tree furnishes pollen sufficient for twenty female.
=History=—It has been generally believed that neither the nutmeg nor
mace was known to the ancients. C. F. Ph. von Martius[1850] however
maintains that mace was alluded to in the comedies of Plautus,[1851]
written about two centuries before the Christian era.
[1847] _Histoire des Drogues_, ii. (1849) 398.
[1848] Twelve chests of this rhubarb, said to be of the crop of 1793,
which had been lying in the Russian Government warehouses, were offered
for sale in London, Dec. 1, 1853. Samples of the drug now 80 years old
are in our possession, and still sound and good.
[1849] Most beautifully figured by Blume, “Rumphia” i. (1835) tab. 55;
_Myristica fatua_, ii. 59.
[1850] _Flora Brasiliensis_, fasc. 11-12. 133; also in Buchner’s
_Repertorium für Pharmacie_, ix. (1860) 529-538.
[1851] _Pseudolus_, act. iii. scena 2.
The words _Macer_, _Macar_, _Machir_ or _Macir_, occurring in the
writings of Scribonius Largus, Dioscorides, Galen, and Pliny are
thought by Martius to refer in each instance to mace. But that the
substance designated by these names was not mace, but the bark of
a tree growing in Malabar, was pointed out by Acosta nearly three
centuries ago, and by many subsequent writers, and, as we think, with
perfect correctness.[1852]
Nutmegs and mace were imported from India at an early date by the
Arabians, and thus passed into western countries. Aëtius, who was
resident at the court of Constantinople about the year 540, appears to
have been acquainted with the nutmeg, if that at least is intended by
the term _Nuces Indicæ_, prescribed together with cloves, spikenard,
costus, calamus aromaticus and snadal-wood, as an ingredient of the
_Suffumigium moschatum_.[1853]
Masudi,[1854] who appears to have visited India in A.D. 916-920,
pointed out that the nutmeg, like cloves, areca nut and snadal-wood,
was a product of the eastern islands of the Indian Archipelago. The
Arabian geographer Edrisi, who wrote in the middle of the 12th century,
mentions both nutmegs and mace as articles of import into Aden;[1855]
and again “_Nois mouscades_” are among the spices on which duty was
levied at Acre in Palestine, _circa_ A.D. 1180.[1856] About a century
later, another Arabian author, Kazwini,[1857] expressly named the
Moluccas as the native country of the spices under notice.
The Sanskrit name of the nutmeg tree most commonly in use, also with
Susruta, is Jātī (Dr. Rice).
One of the earliest references to the use of nutmegs in Europe occurs
in a poem written about 1195, by Petrus D’Ebulo,[1858] describing the
entry into Rome of the Emperor Henry VI., prior to his coronation in
April 1191. On this occasion the streets were fumigated with aromatics,
which are enumerated in the following line:—
“Balsama, thus, aloë, _myristica_, cynnama, nardus.”
By the end of the 12th century, both nutmegs and mace were found in
Northern Europe,—even in Denmark, as may be inferred from the allusion
to them in the writings of Harpestreng.[1859] In England, mace, though
well known, was a very costly spice, its value between A.D. 1284
and 1377 being about 4_s._ 7_d._ per lb., while the average price
of a sheep during the same period was but 1_s._ 5_d._, and of a cow
9_s._ 5_d._[1860] It was also dear in France, for in the _Compte de
l’exécution_ of the will of Jeanne d’Evreux, queen of France, in 1372,
six ounces of mace are appraised per ounce at 3 sols 8 deniers, equal
to about 8_s._ 3_d._ of our present money.[1861]
[1852] Mérat et De Lens, _Dict. de Mat. Méd._ iv. (1832) 173.—The tree
is, we think, _Ailantus malabarica_ DC., order of the Simarubeæ.
[1853] Aëtius, tetrabiblos iv. serm. 4. c. 122.—It must however be
admitted that _Nux Indica_ in mediæval authors usually signifies the
Coco-nut, but also sometimes _Nux vomica_ or even _Areca nut_. For
particulars see Flückiger, _Documente zur Geschichte der Pharm._ 1876.
18.
[1854] _Les prairies d’or_, i. (1861) 341.
[1855] _Géographie_, i. (1836) 51.
[1856] In the work quoted at p. 282, note 3.
[1857] _Kosmographie_, übersetzt von Ethé, i. (1869) 227.
[1858] _Carmen de motibus siculis_, Basil., 1746. 23.—A new edition of
this work, by Prof. Winkelmann, was published in 1874.
[1859] _Danske Laegebog_, quoted by Meyer, _Geschichte der Botanik_,
iii. (1856) 537.
[1860] Rogers, _Hist. of Agriculture and Prices in England_, i. (1866)
361-362. 628.—It is remarkable that _nutmegs_ are not mentioned, though
_mace_ is named repeatedly.
[1861] Leber, _Appréciation de la fortune privée au moyen âge_, éd. 2,
1847. 95.
The use of these spices was diffused throughout Europe long before the
Portuguese in 1512 had discovered the mother plant in the isles of
Banda. The Portuguese held the trade of the Spice Islands for about
a century, when it was wrested from them by the Dutch, who pursued
the same policy of exclusiveness that they had followed in the case
of cloves and cinnamon. In order to secure their monopoly, they
endeavoured to limit the trees to Banda and Amboyna, and to exterminate
them elsewhere, which in fact they did at Ceram and the small
neighbouring islands of Kelang and Nila. So completely was the spice
trade in their hands, that the crops of sixteen years were said to be
at one time in their warehouses, those of recent years being never
thrown on the market. Thus the crop of 1744 was being sold in 1760,
in which year an immense quantity of nutmegs and cloves was burned at
Amsterdam lest the price should fall too low.[1862]
During the occupation of the Spice Islands by the English from 1796
to 1802, the culture of the nutmeg was introduced into Bencoolen and
Penang,[1863] and many years afterwards into Singapore. Extensive
plantations of nutmeg-trees were formed in the two islands last named,
and by a laborious and costly system of cultivation were for many
years highly productive.[1864] In 1860 the trees were visited by a
destructive blight, which the cultivators were powerless to arrest,
and which ultimately led to the ruin of the plantations, so that in
1867 there was no such thing as nutmeg cultivation either in Penang or
Singapore.[1865]
Though so long valued in Europe and Asia, neither nutmegs nor mace seem
to have been employed in former times as a condiment in the islands
where they are indigenous.[1866]
=Collection and Preparation=—Almost the whole surface of the Banda
Isles, observes Mr. Wallace,[1867] is planted with nutmeg-trees, which
thrive under the shade of the lofty _Canarium commune_. The light
volcanic soil, the shade, and the excessive moisture of these islands,
where it rains more or less every month in the year, seem exactly
to suit the nutmeg tree, which requires no manure and scarcely any
attention.
In Bencoolen[1868] the trees bear all the year round, but the chief
harvest takes place in the later months of the year, and a smaller one
in April, May and June. The fruit as it splits is gathered by means of
a hook attached to a long stick, the pericarp removed, and the mace
carefully stripped off. The nuts are then taken to the drying house
(a brick building), placed on frames, and exposed to the gentle heat
of a smouldering fire, with arrangements for a proper circulation of
air. This drying operation lasts for two months, during which time
the nutmegs are turned every second or third day. At the end of this
period, the kernels are found to rattle in the shell, an indication
that the drying is complete. The shells are then broken with a wooden
mallet, the nutmegs picked out and sorted, and finally rubbed over with
dry sifted lime. In Banda the smaller and less sightly nutmegs are
reserved for the preparation of the expressed oil.
[1862] Valmont de Bomare, _Dict. d’Histoire Nat._ iv. (1775) 297.—This
author writes as an eye-witness of the destruction he has recorded:—“Le
10 Juin 1760, j’en ai vu à Amsterdam, près de l’Amirauté, un feu dont
l’aliment étoit estimé huit millions argent de France: on devoit en
brûler autant le lendemain. Les pieds des spectateurs baignoient dans
l’huile essentielle de ces substances....”
[1863] How tempting the cultivation must have appeared, may be judged
from the price of mace, which we find quoted on the 3rd January 1806,
in the _London Price Current_ (which gives only _import prices_), as
85_s._ to 90_s._ per lb.;—to these rates must be added the duty of
7_s._ 1_d._ per lb.
[1864] Seemann, _Hooker’s Journ. of Bot._ iv. (1852) 83.
[1865] Collingwood in _Journ. of Linnean Society_, Bot., x. (1869) 45.
[1866] Crawfurd, _Dictionary of the Indian Islands_, 1856. 304.—Much
additional information will be found in this work.
[1867] _The Malay Archipelago_, i. (1869) 452.—See also Bickmore,
_Travels in the East Indian Archipelago_, 1868. 225.
[1868] Lumsdaine, _Pharm. Journ._ xi. (1852) 516. For further
information on the management of nutmeg plantations in Sumatra, consult
the original paper.
The old commercial policy of the Dutch originated the singular practice
of breaking the shell, and immersing the kernel of the artificially
dried seed in milk of lime,—sometimes for a period of three months.
This was done with a view to render impossible the germination of
any nutmegs sent into the market. The folly of such a procedure was
demonstrated by Teijsmann, who proved that mere exposure to the sun for
a week is sufficient to destroy the vitality of the seed. By immersion
in milk of lime many nutmegs are spoiled and the necessity is incurred
of a second drying. Lumsdaine has also shown that even the _dry_ liming
process is, to say the least, entirely needless. Nutmegs are well
preserved in their natural shell, in which state the Chinese have the
good sense to prefer them.
The process of liming nutmegs is however still largely followed; and
the prejudice in favour of the spice thus prepared is so strong in
certain countries, that nutmegs not limed abroad have sometimes to be
limed in London to fit them for exportation. Penang nutmegs are always
imported in the natural state,—that is, _un-limed_.
=Description=—The fruit of _Myristica fragrans_ is a pendulous, globose
drupe, about 2 inches in diameter, and not unlike a small round pear.
It is marked by a furrow which passes round it, and by which at
maturity its thick fleshy pericarp splits into two pieces, exhibiting
in its interior a single seed, enveloped in a fleshy foliaceous mantle
or arillus, of fine crimson hue, which is _mace_. The dark brown,
shining, ovate seed is marked with impressions corresponding to the
lobes of the arillus; and on one side, which is of paler hue and
slightly flattened, a line indicating the raphe may be observed.
The bony testa does not find its way into European commerce, the
so-called _nutmeg_ being merely the kernel or nucleus of the
seed. Nutmegs exhibit nearly the form of their outer shell with a
corresponding diminution in size. The London dealers esteem them in
proportion to their size, the largest, which are about one inch long by
⁸/₁₀ of an inch broad, and four of which will weigh an ounce, fetching
the highest price. If not dressed with lime, they are of a greyish
brown, smooth yet coarsely furrowed and veined longitudinally, marked
on the flatter side with a shallow groove. A transverse section shows
that the inner seed-coat (_endopleura_) penetrates into the albumen
in long narrow brown strips, reaching the centre of the seed, thereby
imparting the peculiar marbled appearance familiar in a cut nutmeg.
At the base of the albumen and close to the hilum, is the embryo,
formed of a short radicle with cup-shaped cotyledons, whose slit and
curled edges penetrate into the albumen. The tissue of the seed can be
cut with equal facility in any direction. It is extremely oily, and has
a delicious aromatic fragrance, with a spicy rather acrid taste.
=Microscopic Structure=—The testa consists mainly of long, thin,
radially arranged, rigid cells, which are closely interlaced and do not
exhibit any distinct cavities. The endopleura which forms the adhering
coat of the kernel and penetrates into it, consists of soft-walled,
red-brown tissue, with small scattered bundles of vessels. In the
outer layers the endopleura exhibits small collapsed cells; but the
tissue which fills the folds that dip into the interior consists of
much larger cells. The tissue of the albumen is formed of soft-walled
parenchyme, which is densely filled with conspicuous starch-grains, and
with fat, partly crystallized. Among the prismatic crystals of fat,
large thick rhombic or six-sided tables may often be observed. With
these are associated grains of albuminoid matter, partly crystallized.
=Chemical Composition=—After starch and albuminoid matter, the
principal constituent of nutmeg is the _fat_, which makes up about a
fourth of its weight, and is known in commerce by the incorrect name of
_Oil of Mace_ (see p. 507).
The volatile oil, to which the smell and taste of nutmegs are chiefly
due, amounts to between 3 and 8 per cent.,[1869] and consists,
according to Cloëz (1864), almost entirely of a hydrocarbon, C₁₀H₁₆,
boiling at 165° C., which Gladstone (1872), who assigns it the same
composition, calls _Myristicene_. The latter chemist found in the crude
oil an oxygenated oil, _Myristicol_, of very difficult purification
and possibly subject to change during the process of rectifying. It
has a high boiling point (about 220° C.?) and the characteristic odour
of nutmeg; unlike carvol with which it is isomeric, it does not form a
crystalline compound with hydrosulphuric acid.
Oil of nutmegs, distilled in London by Messrs. Herrings and Co.,
examined in column 200 mm. long, we found to deviate the ray of
polarized light, 15°·3 to the right; that of the Long Nutmeg
(_Myristica fatua_ Houtt.), furnished to us by the same firm, deviated
28°·7 to the right.
From the facts recorded by Gmelin,[1870] it would appear that oil of
nutmeg sometimes deposits a stearoptene called _Myristicin_. We are
not acquainted with such a deposit; yet we have been kindly furnished
by Messrs. Herrings with a crystalline substance which they obtained
during the latter part of the process of distilling both common
and long nutmegs. It is a greyish greasy mass, which by repeated
crystallizations from spirit of wine, we obtained in the form of
brilliant, colourless scales, fusible at 54° C., and still possessing
the odour of nutmeg. The crystals are readily soluble in benzol,
bisulphide of carbon or chloroform, sparingly in petroleum ether; their
solution in spirit of wine has a decidedly acid reaction, and is devoid
of rotatory power. By boiling them with alcohol, sp. gr. 0·843, and
anhydrous carbonate of sodium, we obtained a solution which, after
removal of the alcohol, left a residuum perfectly soluble in boiling
water, forming a jelly on cooling. By adding hydrochloric acid to the
warm aqueous solution, the original crystallizable substance again made
its appearance, yet almost devoid of odour. It is in fact nothing else
than _Myristic Acid_ (see page 508).[1871]
[1869] Messrs. Herrings & Co. of London have informed us, that 2874 lb.
of nutmegs distilled in their laboratory afforded 67 lb. of essential
oil, _i.e._ 2·33 per cent. But Messrs. Schimmel & Co., Leipzig, state
(1878) that they obtain as much as from 6 to 8 per cent.
[1870] _Chemistry_, xiv. (1860) 389.
[1871] _Yearbook of Pharmacy_, 1874, 490.
=Production and Commerce=—The nutmegs and mace now brought into the
market are to a large extent the produce of the Banda Islands,[1872]
of which however only three, namely Lontar or the Great Banda, Pulo
Ai, and Pulo Nera, have what are termed _Nutmeg Parks_. According to
official statements of the Dutch, the first-named island possessed in
1864 about 266,000 fruit-bearing trees; Ternate on the western coast of
Jilolo, 46,000; Menado in the island of Celebes, 35,000; and Amboyna,
only 31,000. The nutmegs of the Banda Islands are shipped to Batavia.
The quantity exported from Java in 1871 (all, we believe, from Batavia,
and therefore the produce of the Banda Islands) is stated as 8107
peculs (1,080,933 lb.), of which 2300 peculs (306,666 lb.) were shipped
to the United States, and a rather large quantity to Singapore.[1873]
The last named port also shipped in the same year a very large quantity
(310,576 lb.) of nutmegs to North America,[1874] and in 1877 the total
export of nutmegs and mace from Singapore was 5323 peculs (709,733 lb.).
[1872] Some idea of the extremely small area of these famous islands
may be gathered from the fact that the Great Banda, the largest of
them, is but about 7 miles long by 2 miles broad; while the entire
group occupies no more than 17·6 geographical square miles.
[1873] _Consular Reports_, Aug. 1873. 952-3. In 1875, 8990 peculs were
exported from Java.
[1874] _Blue Books for the Colony of the Straits Settlements for 1871_,
Singapore, 1872.
Nutmegs were exported from Padang in Sumatra in the year 1871, to the
extent of 2766 peculs (368,800 lb.), chiefly to America and Singapore.
The quantity annually imported into the United Kingdom ranges from
500,000 to 800,000 lb.
=Uses=—Nutmeg is a grateful aromatic stimulant, chiefly employed for
flavouring other medicines. It is also in constant use as a condiment,
though less appreciated than formerly.
Oleum Myristicæ expressum.
_Oleum Macidis_, _Balsamum vel Oleum Nucistæ_; _Expressed Oil of
Nutmegs_, _Nutmeg Butter_, _Oil of Mace_; F. _Beurre de Muscade_; G.
_Muskatbutter_, _Muskatnussöl_.
This article reaches England chiefly from Singapore, in oblong,
rectangular blocks, about 10 inches long by 2½ inches square, enveloped
in a wrapper of palm leaves. It is a solid unctuous substance of an
orange-brown colour, varying in intensity of shade, and presenting a
mottled aspect. It has a very agreeable odour and a fatty aromatic
taste.
In operating on 2 lb. of nutmegs, first powdered and heated in a
water-bath and pressed while still hot, we obtained 9 ounces of solid
oil, equivalent to 28 per cent. This oil, which in colour, odour and
consistence does not differ from that which is imported, melts at
about 45° C.; and dissolves perfectly in two parts of warm ether or in
four of warm alcohol sp. gr. ·800.
Nutmeg butter contains the volatile oil already described, to the
extent of about six per cent., besides several fatty bodies. One of the
latter, termed _Myristin_ C₃H₅(O·C₁₄H₂₇O)₃, may be obtained by means
of benzol, or by dissolving in ether that part of the butter of nutmeg
which is insoluble in cold spirit of wine. The crystals of myristin
melt at 31° C. By saponification they furnish glycerin, and _Myristic
Acid_, C₁₄H₂₈O₂, the latter fusing at 53°·8 C. Playfair in 1841 was the
first to isolate (in Liebig’s laboratory at Giessen) myristic acid.
Myristin also occurs in spermaceti, coco-nuts, as well as, according to
Mulder, in small quantity, in the fixed oils of linseed and poppy seed.
Nutmegs according to Comar (1859) yield 10 to 12 per cent. of myristin.
That part of nutmeg butter, which is more readily soluble in spirit of
wine or benzol, contains another fat, which however has not yet been
investigated. It is accompanied by a reddish colouring matter.